Digital Image Attribute Plane Compression

An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining, from a memory, (i) a digital image containing a plurality of m×n pixel cells, and (ii) an attribute plane containing a plurality of m×n attribute cells, wherein each of the pixels in the m×n pixel cells is associated with at least one color value, wherein elements of the m×n attribute cells are associated with respective pixels in the m×n pixel cells, and wherein the elements identify respective control data related to their associated pixels;
• applying compression to each of the m×n pixel cells and the m×n attribute cells, wherein applying the compression comprises:
• compressing at least some of the m×n pixel cells in a lossy fashion, and
• compressing all of the m×n attribute cells in a lossless fashion, wherein compression of each of the m×n pixel cells is based on at least part of the respectively associated m×n attribute cell;
• and
• storing, in the memory, a compressed representation of the digital image and the attribute plane, wherein the m×n pixel cells and the m×n attribute cells are interleaved with one another in the compressed representation.

A printing device comprising:

• at least one processor;
• memory;
• and
• program instructions, stored in the memory, that upon execution by the at least one processor cause the printing device to perform operations comprising:
• obtaining, from the memory, (i) a digital image containing a plurality of m×n pixel cells, and (ii) an attribute plane containing a plurality of m×n attribute cells, wherein each of the pixels in the m×n pixel cells is associated with at least one color value, wherein elements of the m×n attribute cells are associated with respective pixels in the m×n pixel cells, and wherein the elements identify respective control data related to their associated pixels;
• applying compression to each of the m×n pixel cells and the m×n attribute cells, wherein applying the compression comprises:
• compressing at least some of the m×n pixel cells in a lossy fashion, and
• compressing all of the m×n attribute cells in a lossless fashion, wherein compression of each of the m×n pixel cells is based on at least part of the respectively associated m×n attribute cell;
• and
• storing, in the memory, a compressed representation of the digital image and the attribute plane, wherein the m×n pixel cells and the m×n attribute cells are interleaved with one another in the compressed representation.